The Susan G. Komen Tissue Bank at the IU Simon Comprehensive Cancer Center represents a revolutionary approach to breast cancer research. It is the first and only biorepository in the world collecting healthy breast tissue from individuals without cancer. By understanding what normal breast tissue looks like, scientists in Indiana and around the world expect to pinpoint the changes that occur when cancer forms. Armed with this knowledge, the tissue bank and its leaders hope to speed the discovery of a cure and—ultimately—prevent breast cancer before it forms.
Brief History of the Komen Tissue Bank
This unique resource is truly born of Hoosier ingenuity and spirit. In the late 1990s, the federal government convened a group of breast cancer experts to determine what was required to accelerate progress against this vicious disease. The No. 1 item on the list was the need to study healthy tissue samples. Still, no action was taken, primarily due to concerns that women without cancer would be unwilling to undergo a needle biopsy and other requirements of donation.
Among those who served on the initial federal advisory panel was Indiana patient advocate and two-time breast cancer survivor Connie Rufenbarger. Dissatisfied by years of inaction, Connie urged IU oncologist Anna Maria Storniolo and IU surgeon and chemist Susan E. Clare to help make this bold vision a reality. The first women donated breast tissue in 2006. The bank took on its current name in 2007 in recognition of generous support from Susan G. Komen.
Today, more than 5,000 women—ranging in ages from 18 to 92—have selflessly contributed healthy breast tissue. These precious samples have been utilized by investigators here in Indiana, as well as by internationally acclaimed scientists everywhere, from the Mayo Clinic and Dana Farber Cancer Institute to the Royal Marsden Cancer Centre in London. Researchers who successfully apply to receive samples from the tissue bank must agree to share their data with the world, so others can build on their findings.
The Komen Tissue Bank is truly one-of-a-kind. It provides everyone an opportunity to battle back against a disease that affects far too many people.
About the Susan G. Komen Tissue Bank
The Komen Tissue Bank is the only repository in the world for normal breast tissue and matched serum, plasma, and DNA. We are transforming breast cancer research by offering normal, high-quality, richly annotated tissue samples to scientists worldwide.
